Syrians top foreign investors in local start-ups

Syrians set up 33.7 percent of newly established foreign-partnered companies in the first seven months of 2017, a report issued Friday by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) said.

The union's latest report showed that the number of new companies established in Turkey increased 4.06 percent to 41,494 in January to July 2017, compared to the same period last year. The report revealed that 6,988 companies went out of business in the first seven months of 2017, which saw an increase of 19.9 percent compared with the same period last year.

Over January to July, a total of 3,314 companies were established with foreign partnership, it stated. Nearly 80 percent of the companies' capital came from foreign partners, the figures showed.

Some 1,120 or 33.7 percent of foreign-partnered companies were founded directly by Syrian nationals in partnerships.

Meanwhile, the total number of newly established companies in Turkey increased by 67.91 percent to 5,195 in July compared to the same month in 2016.

The figures indicated that the numbers of foreign-partnered new companies totaled 476 in July. Out of the total number of foreign-partnered companies in the month, 154 were founded by Syrian partners, the report said.